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VENTILATION 

AND 

OTHER REQUISITES 

TO A 

Healthy and Comfortable 

DWELLING: 

/ 

BY BOSS WEST AYS. 

11 


To be in accordance with the present state of 
science, in relation to the matters here discussed, 
I have consulted such authors as I deemed most 
reliable. 


BALTIMORE: 

JOHpr CP. QES FORGES. 
1871. 








VE]SrTIX,A.TI0 1Sr 


AND OTHER REQDISITES TO A 

Healthy and Comfortable Dwelling. 


To be surrounded with a pure and not over 
damp atmosphere, and to be clean in person, 
is of the utmost importance to health, comfort, 
activity of body and mind, buoyancy of spirits 
and long life. We are large consumers of 
oxygen, mainly through the medium of the 
lungs. The breathing of natural air tends to 
purify the blood in the lungs, and to prepare it 
for carrying to every part of the system the 
ingredients for preserving and invigorating the 
various organs, and stimulating them to per¬ 
form their legitimate functions. In this puri¬ 
fying and invigorating process, the air drawn 
into the lungs parts with oxygen and receives 



4 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


in turn carbonic acid gas. It is .important that 
in each successive breath we draw, the air 
should contain its natural proportion of oxygen. 
This, in open space, Nature has provided for. 
Each breath thrown out ascends in time to 
allow the succeeding breath to be drawn from 
pure air. But this important provision of 
Nature is curtailed in proportion as the apart¬ 
ments which we occupy are tight and small in 
dimensions. 

The amount of pure air drawn into the lungs 
by each person when in open space, per minute, 
is estimated by various authorities to be from 
four to ten cubic feet. 

In inhabited apartments various causes con¬ 
spire to deteriorate the air. Not only is there 
loss of oxygen by respiration, but its place is 
supplied by an equivalent volume of carbonic 
acid gas. From five to eight per cent, of car¬ 
bonic acid in air renders it dangerous to breathe. 
A person by breathing vitiates or renders unfit 
for breathing nearly a cubic foot of air per 
minute. 


OF DWELLINGS. 


5 


Combustion for the purpose of illumination 
also contaminates the air in a room in the same 
way. A candle—six to the pound—will con¬ 
sume one-third of the oxygen from ten cubic 
feet of air per hour; an oil lamp, with large 
burner, will produce a like result upon seventy 
cubic feet of air per hour. This, when con¬ 
sidered in connection with the fact that noxious 
animal matter is constantly exhaling from the 
lungs and skin of each individual, renders it 
manifest that all the air in inhabited rooms of 
the largest size common in our dwellings, if 
perfectly tight, would be speedily, rendered 
totally unfit for breathing; and in rooms of 
the ordinary tightness, the air in them fre¬ 
quently becomes very far from being fit to 
breathe. Undoubtedly the loose fitting of the 
doors and windows and chance crevices afford 
a partial exchange of air in most dwellings; 
but it is this accidental ventilation which, by 
effecting the purpose in an imperfect degree, 
has prevented an especial provision for main¬ 
taining in our dwellings a much greater purity 


6 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


of air than generally pertains. A proper sys¬ 
tem of self-acting ventilation is the most prac¬ 
ticable remedy for this serious but generally 
tolerated evil. 

In consideration of the facts and views here 
given, I have been at considerable pains and 
expense to apply a system of ventilation to 
the dwellings which I am erecting in the 
western section of the city. The greatest 
amount of evil for want of pure air in dwell¬ 
ings is experienced in winter, when, with a 
view to warmth, apertures are often closed, 
which, if left open, would be of important 
advantage by maintaining the air of the room 
in a better condition for breathing; and espe¬ 
cially is this tendency to closing of apertures 
the case with all but those who can afford to 
have their dwellings made comfortable, as 
against cold, by the introduction bf warm air; 
which introduction incidentally serves, to some 
extent, as a ventilator, but far from the extent 
desirable or attainable. The mere fact that 
the openings into a room are of the proper size 


OF DWELLINGS. 


7 


for ventilating purposes—by means of which 
the air can pass into and out of a room—does 
not necessarily ensure the requisite degree of 
ventilation or maintaining the proper condition 
of the air in such room; these openings must 
be so placed and arranged as best to serve the 
object in view. This involves that the arrange¬ 
ment shall be in conformity with the laws of 
Nature pertaining to this subject. 

Another important requisite is, that the 
fresh air let into the room should flow to the 
breather unaccompanied by objectionable cur¬ 
rents. 

From this it will be seen, that in the matter 
of ventilating dwellings, in the best way, and 
with due care to the avoiding of objectionable 
drafts, an important practical question arises 
as to what points and in what manner the air 
should be introduced into an apartment and 
allowed to leave it. The breath, as it escapes 
into the still atmosphere at the temperature of 
the body, is so rarified that in our climate it 
ascends. The exhalations from the surface of 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


the body, in like manner, and for similar rea¬ 
sons, ascend even in. a room at a temperature 
of sixty-five degrees—since this is thirty-three 
degrees below the temperature of our bodies. 
A kind of natural ventilation of the person is 
thus effected, and as it is important not to 
bring the vitiated air back to- be breathed over 
again, this movement may be taken as Nature’s 
hint in favor of upward ventilation. In pur¬ 
suance of this, I have arranged for the escape 
of the vitiated air—from the various apart¬ 
ments in my dwellings—openings near the 
ceilings, into what, in effect, is a large chim¬ 
ney, and thence into the open air. The fresh 
air is introduced into the rooms at such places 
and in such manner as to favor the escape of 
the vitiated air .in the way just mentioned, and 
with a view to the fresh air being most avail¬ 
able for breathing in its purity, while care has 
been taken to avoid injurious currents. 

In furtherance of my purpose to combine in 
my dwellings to an unusual extent, the various 
features that are known to be favorable to the 


OF DWELLINGS. 


9 


production and maintenance of the highest 
degree of health and comfort, the following 
things have been carried out : the entire dis¬ 
trict, to the extent of many acres, upon which 
the buildings are situated, has been deeply and 
thoroughly under-drained. 

To avoid the universally conceded objection 
to living in basements, the houses have been 
built four stories above the ground, and to 
supercede the necessity of occupying the cellar 
or space between the lower floor and the earth, 
ample provision is made for the storage of fuel, 
and other articles—subject to engender delete¬ 
rious gases, in a covered yard at the rear of 
the dwelling. 

Immediately beneath the lower floors of 
both front and back buildings, is a thick 
counter-ceiling, composed of boards and mor¬ 
tar. This has reference among other things to 
keeping the houses warm, while the winter 
blasts have free access to the space underneath 
the lower floors. This space is horizontally 
co-extensive with the entire buildings, and the 
2 


10 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


vertical measurement from the earth under¬ 
neath to the lower floor of both back and front 
buildings, varies from three to five feet; into 
this space ample openings are provided on 
each side of the buildings for its constant 
ventilation, purification and drying. These 
openings are so situated, that currents may 
sweep through the entire space from side to 
side at all times. 

There are no openings through the floors of 
the house communicating with this space, 
which has for its bottom the dry earth. 

This absence of openings, together with the 
Counter-ceiling, perpetual ventilation, and ab¬ 
sence of storage, all have reference to guarding 
against air, objectionably damp, and unwhole¬ 
some gases penetrating into the inhabited por¬ 
tions of the buildings from below. Hurtful 
dampness sometimes finds its way into dwell¬ 
ings, by capillary attraction through the pores 
of the brick walls from the wet earth below. 
When the brick of the wall is slack burned 
this dampness is much more liable to occur, 


OF DWELLINGS. 


11 


than when hard burned brick is used in the 
walls. Roofing slate laid in the walls slightly 
above the earth, is a good device to avoid this 
dampness. This precaution I applied through¬ 
out my entire buildings. I have also paid 
extra price for extra hard burned brick to 
ensure the better against dampness from the 
source just mentioned. 

The entire drainage from these buildings 
is accomplished through open iron gutters; 
thus ensuring that no pools of filthy water re¬ 
main in the gutters to produce stench and dele¬ 
terious gases, neither can any such stench or 
gases be generated in the space beneath the 
buildings, since no matter subject to decompo¬ 
sition is to be placed there. 

Much expense has been submitted to for 
the purpose of avoiding the placing of wood, 
whether belonging to the building or other¬ 
wise, in positions where it was liable fre¬ 
quently to alternate between wet and dry, 
and consequently be destined to speedy decay, 
and a breeder of disease, as is all decaying 


12 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


matter when within or contiguous to our 
dwellings. 

Another feature pertaining to my buildings 
is worthy of notice. The rays of the sun, 
penetrating into our sleeping and other apart¬ 
ments, have a most salutary effect in purifying 
and divesting them of all unpleasant hurtful 
odors and dampness. Wherever this letting 
of the sun’s rays into our rooms can well be 
done, it should be practiced, in despite of all 
objections. My buildings are situated in 
parallel rows, ranging north and south, and 
are otherwise so arranged as to permit the 
sun’s rays to shine directly into every one of 
the sleeping apartments, living and cooking 
rooms, also into most of the other indoor space, 
such as passages and stairways. 

Next in importance to securing the preva¬ 
lence of a healthy atmosphere within our 
dwellings, is to preserve a wholesome atmo¬ 
sphere adjacent to them outside. The mias- 
mato engendered by the filth accumulated in 
courts and alleys, co-operate with indoor stench 


OF DWELLINGS. 


13 


to breed disease. To guard against this I have 
taken especial pains. 

Bathing is among the things which are con¬ 
ducive to health. The means of doing this, 
are provided in connection with the building, 
as is also a supply of hydrant water, and slop 
drains for each of the upper stories ; gas fix¬ 
tures are also furnished throughout. My aim 
has been to combine in these buildings, more 
than the usual number of appliances pertain¬ 
ing to the health and comfort of their occu¬ 
pants. The various things which I have 
mentioned here as having to do with furnish¬ 
ing healthy residences, may each seem, when 
separately considered, as trifles, and not calcu¬ 
lated to produce any marked beneficial results. 
This, in a narrow view of things may seem 
true, but in a large view there are no trifles ; 
everything is important and tells appreciably 
on results. But it may often take a vision 
more piercing than that of the eagle to see 
from the beginning to the end, from cause to 
effect. Many so called trifles co-operating to 


14 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


produce a certain result, often accomplish the 
end aimed at more perfectly, than could other¬ 
wise be done. 

The minute particles of vapor of which the 
clouds are composed, water the whole earth 
with its vast robe of vegetation so lavishly, 
that all the rivers of the world do no more 
than drain off the surplus. It is wise not to be 
blind to the relations of little things to great 
ones. 

Errors of thought, the greatest lapses of 
conduct and the chief miseries of life have 
frequently, if not always, their real origin in 
disregarded trifles. We are snared and cap¬ 
tured like Gulliver by the multiplicity of little 
things which lead to destruction; on the other 
hand, great and., good things may be accom¬ 
plished by the proper appreciation and judi¬ 
cious use of well chosen small things. 

The trifles we despise make all the differ¬ 
ence between error and truth. Two persons 
start .in life at the same period, apparently 
with equal prospects of an honorable and suct 


OF DWELLINGS. 


15 


cessful career. The one steadily pursues the 
upward course to fame and wealth, the other 
descends to degradation and poverty. The 
casual observer is at a loss for the cause of this 
divergence, while he who properly appreciates 
the true relation between small things and 
great ones, and the bearing which one has 
upon the other, finds no difficulty in seeing 
why—in a majority of cases—one man suc¬ 
ceeds, and the other—apparently equally en¬ 
dowed by Nature—fails. All this may seem 
foreign to the illustration of the advantages 
derived from breathing pure air; yet it may 
serve to enforce the fact that the well being of 
both body and mind is largely dependent upon 
a uniform habit of conforming to the various 
things unmistakably known to be conducive to 
health. We should remember that while the 
good we seek may not always be overtaken by 
large strides, we may generally attain to it or 
its equivalent by availing of that which is 
within easy reach. If we commence in good 
time—which means the sooner the better—to 


16 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


iXiake it a rule that ourselves and family con¬ 
form to the laws pertaining to health, we are 
in a fair way of laying up for ourselves and 
children those inestimable treasures—a strong 
arm and a sound mind. 

There are thousands who would barter mil¬ 
lions of wealth for health, after having neg¬ 
lected the golden chance of securing it in the 
only way possible. A robust constitution can¬ 
not be captured in the lump or taken by storm; 
it can only be secured by patient perseverance, 
and uniform care in attending to the things 
upon which its attainment and preservation 
depend. 

The necessity of ventilation results from the 
very nature of the respiratory apparatus. The 
life processes are. graduated to the constitution 
of the atmosphere, and the healthfulness of the 
former depends upon the constancy of the 
latter. So direct is the access which respira¬ 
tion affords to the innermost recesses of the 
body, and so immediately dependent upon it 
is the whole circle of organic processes, that 


OF DWELLINGS. 


17 


any serious disturbance of the air, any mingling 
with it of deleterious ingredients cannot fail to 
be most injurious. 

In proportion to the exercise of a muscle is 
its demand for oxygen, in proportion to the 
activity of the mind is the brainward how of 
arterial blood. If air be rarified or deficient in 
oxygen, its respiration depresses all the powers 
of the constitution, physical and mental. 

From tainted air follows tainted blood. If 
oxygen, the consumer of deleterious matter, 
the purifier and stimulator of the system, is 
withheld, the vital current is encumbered with 
the noxious products of bodily waste. 

Under these circumstances the blood may 
form a ready prepared soil for the seeds of 
infection. Atmospheric malaria may be power¬ 
less upon a perfectly healthy system, while it 
would find ready lodgment in a constitution 
lowered in tone and vital powers by breathing 
bad air. Because it requires a given quantity 
of carbonic acid in the air to produce imme¬ 
diately injurious effects, it does not follow that 
3 


18 VENTILATION, ETC. 

a much less proportion does not seriously im¬ 
pair the constitutional energies, and decrease 
the power of resisting disease., Many a case 
of disease proves fatal on account of an unper¬ 
ceived depression of the sufferer’s strength by 
continued exposure to an atmosphere impure 
from bodily exhalations. That vitiated air 
produces intellectual stupor, depression of the 
feelings, headache, and predisposition to take 
cold, is proved by very slight observation; and 
upon few things is enlightened medical experi¬ 
ence more unanimous than that it either causes 
or greatly aggravates the most malignant 
diseases, such as fevers, inflammations, cholera, 
and consumption. These evils from breathing 
impure air are added to by the occupation of 
basements as human habitations, even when 
occupied only during the day time, and not as 
sleeping apartments. 

If it shall be said that to accomplish venti¬ 
lation to the extent that a due regard for 
health calls for, will in cold weather increase 
the expense of fuel, or require more covering 


OF DWELLINGS. 


19 


to keep our bodies comfortably warm, while in 
our dwellings—this may be the case to a slight 
extent in quite cold weather; but better this, 
and enjoy good health and spirits and activity 
of body and mind than have bad health with 
the doctor’s bill to pay. But it must be borne 
in mind that the best heat to counteract the 
effect of a cool surrounding atmosphere is that 
generated or developed within the system; 
and the heat so produced in a given time is 
materially augmented by the breathing of pure 
air, as compared with breathing the air that 
generally pertains in unventilated dwellings 
inhabited by the average number of persons, 
and well lighted with gas. This extra genera¬ 
tion of heat in our persons may more than 
counteract the cooler air within our rooms 
resulting from a well devised ventilating pro¬ 
cess. The alimentary portions of the food we 
eat are, by the process of digestion, converted 
into chyle; after the food has been acted upon 
by the stomach, other changes take place 
during the process of converting it into blood, 


20 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


suitable to enter into and be conveyed through 
the arteries and veins to supply the various 
wants of the body. 

The function the most essential to life is 
respiration; and the mode in which this is 
performed, that is to say, the manner in which 
the decarbonization of the blood is effected 
through its exposure to the atmosphere, pro¬ 
duces a remarkable change in the whole frame¬ 
work of the animal body. 

The blood, alter traversing the blood-vessels, 
which extend over every part of the body, 
returns to the heart, and by the involuntary 
muscular action of the heart, is propelled 
through the lungs, where it is exposed to the 
action of the atmospheric air, in consequence 
of which both the blood and the air undergo 
certain changes. 

The blood from the right side of the heart, 
when it enters the lungs, is of a dark red 
color; it is then dispersed, in a state of most 
minute subdivisions, throughout the vessels of 
the lungs, and in these vessels it is subjected 


OF DWELLINGS. 


21 


to the influence of atmospheric air and becomes 
a bright red color; in this state it goes to the 
left side of the heart, and is thence propelled 
through the whole arteries of the body; when 
it has traversed the arteries and entered the 
veins, the blood thence loses its florid hue and 
assumes its dark red color as it returns through 
the veins to the right side of the heart, to be 
exposed, as before, to the influence of the 
atmospheric air, and to undergo the same suc¬ 
cession of changes. 

Notwithstanding the great change which 
takes place in both the blood and air, from 
their joint presence in the lungs, yet they do 
not come into actual contact while in the state 
in which they were when they entered the 
lungs. 

They are separated by a thin membrane, 
organized in such a way as to permit the air 
and blood in the lungs, so to act upon each 
other as to dissolve existing chemical combina¬ 
tions, and to form others in accordance with 
the laws pertaining to life and health. The 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


blood receives through the membrane oxygen 
from the air, and at the same time the air 
receives from the blood carbonic acid gas and 
watery vapor, which is exhaled from the lungs. 
The blood having thus parted with its super¬ 
abundant carbon, and absorbed the requisite 
quantity of oxygen to restore it to the qualities 
of arterial blood, is qualified to be again trans¬ 
mitted to the different parts of the body for 
their nourishment and growth. Further, the 
heat developed in the animal system is brought 
about by the action of the oxygen of the air 
we inhale and the carbon of our blood upon 
each other, resulting in the production of heat 
for the system and the carbonic acid gas we 
exhale; this is analagous to what takes place 
during the development of heat by the com¬ 
bustion of coal for domestic or other purposes. 
The carbonic acid gas, the refuse, resulting 
alike from development of heat within our 
persons and in the coal fire, if not suffered in 
either case to escape from the place of com¬ 
bustion, and be succeeded by continued fresh 


OF DWELLINGS. 


23 


supplies of oxygen, would speedily terminate 
the generation of heat, and both the flame of 
the coal fire and the vital flame in man would 
at once be extinguished, even when there was 
no lack of carbon or fuel in either case. 

To continue the analogy, the source of heat, 
whether produced within the human system or 
by a common fire, is the converting latent heat 
into sensible heat or free caloric resulting from 
the chemical changes induced by the action of 
oxygen and carbon, upon each other, whether 
this action is brought about under the opera¬ 
tion of ignited coal or the vital influence resid¬ 
ing in man ; an example of this disengaging 
or liberating of latent heat and its appearance 
as free caloric is furnished by the slacking of 
lime with water. When water is passing into 
vapor or steam, its capacity and demand for 
latent heat is very much increased, and to sup¬ 
ply this demand sensible heat is drawn from sur¬ 
rounding objects, which the process of vapori¬ 
zation converts into insensible heat. This law 
Nature applies for 'the purpose of preserving 


24 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


the temperature of our blood at or within one 
or two degrees of ninety-eight. To make this 
law available, a much larger amount of heat 
is generated in the body than is necessary to 
meet the ordinary or even the extraordinary 
demand for it, and we are so organized that 
whenever the heat of our blood is in danger of 
going above the prescribed degree, moisture 
■ exudes from our skin, and through its vapori¬ 
zation from the surface, the sensible heat of 
our bodies is converted into latent or insensible 
heat and passes off with the vapor; thus the 
normal temperature of our blood is preserved 
as aforesaid. It is of interest to note that we 
get the sensible heat for the use of our bodies in 
superabundance from the latent heat of other 
substances, and we get rid of surplus by its 
being converted into latent heat to supply the 
demand of other substances. 

Life then, consists of a continued series of 
actions and re-actions, ever varying, yet con¬ 
stantly tending to definite ends. 


OF DWELLINGS. 


25 


Heat is stored up in a latent state, in organic 
substances and chemical combinations, and is 
disengaged or rendered free during their decom¬ 
position or change of chemical affinities whether 
by slow decay at a low temperature or by rapid 
dissolution at a high temperature as by fire. 

In the latter case the heat set at liberty is 
more apparent, because of the rapidity of the 
process and the little time allowed for the sen¬ 
sible or free heat to be distributed among other 
substances and escape our notice as in the case 
of slow decay. This rapid decomposition of 
organic substances and speedy dissolution of 
chemical combinations by fire, constitutes its 
value as an instrument of power in our hands. 
It enables the stored up powers of nature to 
be made available, to man; it enables him to 
deal with the gigantic waves of the ocean, as 
does no other known power; it enables him to 
twirl the thousands of spindles with a celerity 
truly wonderful; it enables him to smelt and 
separate from their dross, the crude metals of 
the earth and to shape them into the millions 
4 


i 


26 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


of forms useful to man; and it enables us to 
propel the ponderous car from ocean to ocean 
with the speed of an eagle’s flight. And again 
Nature’s stored up power is brought into requi¬ 
sition to impel the master-piece of mechanism 
through the medium of combustion. The 
human machine moves not until the fires of 
life are lit— 

Whether for weal or woe, 

This much I know, 

While not through man the flame appears, 

It is for him to feed in after years. 

It appears as the result of numerous experi¬ 
ments—by Professor Miller and others—that 
in the production and maintenance of animal 
heat and supplying the other requisites of the 
body, a man of ordinary stature consumes in the 
course of twenty-four hours, nine ounces (Troy) 
of carbon; that the heat developed during the 
combustion is sufficient to boil away eight 
pounds of water; that the consumption of 
oxygen in this process is equal to twenty-four 


OF DWELLINGS. 


27 


ounces or nineteen and a half cubic feet; that 
the quantity of air vitiated amounts to ninety- 
seven cubic feet, and the product in carbonic 
acid to thirty-three ounces. 

When the blood returns from the various 
parts of the#body to the heart and lungs, it 
bears with it the refuse, the product of the 
wear and decay of the system. After this 
waste matter or the gases resulting therefrom 
have been separated from the blood, it is, 
through the process of breathing, expelled 
from the lungs. 

This refuse may, in the economy of nature, 
have served in part or in whole as fuel for the 
production of vital heat. \ 

When the blood leaves the heart to go its 
accustomed round, it has been purified, replen¬ 
ished and prepared with means of developing 
warmth, making up the waste, promoting 
growth and supplying the various require¬ 
ments of the entire system. Thus the stream 
of life ebbs and flows in turn. While the 
vital flame continues to burn, each individual 


28 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


by seconding the design of nature in relation 
to his species may lengthen out his days and 
increase the enjoyments of life. There is 
another branch of this subject upon which as 
yet little has been said which is too important 
• to the highest state of health k) be left un¬ 
noticed. 

I refer to the action of the skin, co-operat¬ 
ing with that of the lungs in purification of 
the blood, and consequently maintaining the 
health of the entire system. 

Besides answering merely as a covering to 
the body, the skin performs various useful func¬ 
tions in our general economy. An ordinary 
observer would suppose that the surface of the 
body from its smoothness was so close in tex¬ 
ture, that neither air nor liquid could pass 
readily through it. Such is not the case. 

The whole membrane may be likened to a 
sieve: throughout its entire extent, externally 
and internally, there are a multitude of small 
holes or outlets; these are called pores commu¬ 
nicating with ducts beneath, and the ducts 


OF DWELLINGS. 


29 


terminate in glands or receptacles in the 
muscles. 

By this arrangement, portions of the fluids 
and gases no longer required in the system are 
conveyed to the surface of the body, when 
they escape into the atmosphere usually in the 
form of vapor, but sometimes as liquid or sen¬ 
sible perspiration. In the extreme heat of 
summer or when engaged in hard work, this 
liquid exhalation is very apparent. Not being 
observable under ordinary circumstances, it is 
styled the insensible perspiration. In this 
offlce of an exhaler, the skin acts as an auxili¬ 
ary to the lungs, which throw off more copiously 
the waste of the system in the form of vapor 
and deteriorated air. 

The amount of these two kinds of exhala¬ 
tions from the skin and lungs, varys from two 
to five pounds per day; hardworking men 
during very warm weather, very much exceed 
the highest amount above named. 

This exhalation of vapor and liquid from 
the body serves to purify the system and 


30 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


regulate its temperature. The lungs in addi¬ 
tion to their other functions act as a cleansing 
apparatus, so also do the pores of the skin ; 
and as before mentioned, they are auxiliary to 
the lungs; the two working together to accom¬ 
plish the same important end of throwing off 
the decomposed and useless matter, and are in 
such close sympathy with each other, that 
when one is deranged, the other suffers and 
health is consequently impaired. 

Besides their exhaling functions, the pores 
and other minute organs of the skin absorb 
air and moisture from the atmosphere, though 
less actively than the lungs and are therefore 
inlets as well as outlets to the system, and 
hence may in some degree assist in furnishing 
the required oxygen for the support of heat 
and life. Along with the liquid or vapor 
exhalations from the skin passes off the super¬ 
abundant heat of the body. If therefore we 
check this insensible perspiration, this supera¬ 
bundant quantity of heat unable to make its 
escape at the surface returns to the vital organs 


OF DWELLINGS. 


31 


witbin. Fevers, rheumatism and other mala¬ 
dies are the consequence. Any considerable 
clogging of the pores of the skin renders them 
unable to expel the insensible perspiration 
with sufficient energy which tends to produce 
the above mentioned difficulties. This shows 
that it is of great importance to health to keep 
the pores of the skin in such a condition as 
not to materially check the requisite amount 
of insensible or other perspiration or the ex¬ 
haling the gases resulting from the waste 
matter of the system. Entire immersion of 
the body in a bath of tepid water is unques¬ 
tionably the most effectual means of cleansing 
the skin from its natural or artificial impurities, 
and of refreshing and invigorating the whole 
system. 

To persons whose occupation is such as to 
render it difficult or impossible to keep their 
apparel or person as clean as they desire, these 
ablutions are indispensable to personal comfort 
and self-respect. 


I 


32 VENTILATION, ETC. 

“In European countries, the laboring classes 
practice bathing much more than here. The 
inhabitants of countries in which the bath is 
habitually used, anxiously seek it, in full confi¬ 
dence of its salutary effects in affording lon¬ 
gevity and vigorous health. 

We breathe twenty times every minute, con¬ 
sequently twenty-eight thousand times every 
day; and nothing but absolute and perfectly 
pure air answers the exact requirements of 
perfect health of body and mind. 

He who realizes the truth of this is bound, 
by every consideration of duty, to take such 
measures as are fairly within his reach, to avail 
of the advantages of cleansing the blood by 
breathing pure air, and the kindred advantage 
of cleansing the person by bathing in pure 
water. 

Next to feeling conscious that you are a 
true, honest and industrious man, nothing tends 
to elevate one more in his own estimation, and 
in that of others, than the living in a clean, 
comfortable, well aired dwelling, and the being 


OF DWELLINGS. 


33 


as clean in person and dress as is consistent 
with his occupation. 

But notwithstanding all that has or can be 
said upon the subject, I am of the opinion, 
that to make ventilation in private houses 
really and permanently useful, it must act at 
all times spontaneously. Any call upon atten¬ 
tion, even such as the opening of windows, or 
their regulation in a particular manner, will be 
apt to be neglected, more especially in places 
where the inmates cannot at once perceive the 
reason, or that any apparent advantage is to be 
derived from the additional trouble required ; 
my process of ventilation is in accordance with 
this view, leaving nothing to be done or 
undone to ensure efficient ventilation, neither 
will there be any ready mode of preventing it. 

INFLUENCE OF HUMAN EFFLUVIA. 

I find in Plankings Abstract , a sensible 
article on this subject, by Mr. Grainger, from 
which I extract the following paragraphs: 

5 


34 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


“If physicians would study such subjects 
vastly more, and the modus operandi of drug 
remedies vastly less, they might, perhaps, soon 
find themselves on the platform we are com¬ 
pelled to occupy/’ 

“According to my own opportunities of 
observation, the most injurious of all the 
causes operating in the diffusion of epidemic 
diseases are the effluvia proceeding from the 
human body, and especially from the lungs 
and the skin. The special deleterious agent 
consists of the effete and—as it has been 
proved experimentally—highly putrescent or¬ 
ganic matter, mingled with the expired air. 
That it is, when re-introduced into the living 
body, liable to be highly injurious, may be 
inferred from the fact of the careful provision 
made by nature for its incessant elimination 
from the system. That it is small in amount, 
is no objection to the intensity of its action ; 
for to the physiologist it is well known that 
a minute quantity of a powerful agent—the 
putrid matter introduced on the point of a 


OF DWELLINGS. 


35 


needle in tbe inspection of a dead body—a 
single drop of concentrated prussic acid placed 
in the mouth of an animal is sufficient to 
destroy life. It is in overcrowded unventi¬ 
lated bedrooms, schools, workhouses, dormi¬ 
tories, cfec. that this effete matter taints the 
air, and, entering the blood, poisons the sys¬ 
tem. That the remarkable diminution in the 
amount of carbonic acid evolved frojn the 
lungs, where persons, as in crowded and unven¬ 
tilated apartments, breathe an impure atmos¬ 
phere, acts in such cases injuriously, admits of 
no doubt; but the evil, quoad the development 
of fever, scarlatina, cholera, cfec., depends on 
the organic, and not on the chemical products 
of respiration. As one indication of this, it 
may be explained that it is possible under 
certain circumstances to observe the action of 
the former when separated from the latter. 
As soon as the expired air quits the body, the 
matters of which it consists have a tendency 
to separate; and as regards the two substances 
under consideration, the carbonic acid mixes 


36 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


with the atmosphere on the principle of diffu¬ 
sion ; while the animal excretion, no longer 
held in solution by the colder external air, is 
deposited, and particularly clings to woolen 
articles, as bedding and clothes; which last, as 
it is well known to medical men, the clergy 
and others, will often retain for hours, or even 
longer, a foul smell from this cause alone. 
When this matter, from neglect, is allowed to 
accumulate, it will affect the health. An 
instance of this was mentioned to me by the 
surgeon of a large pauper school, where the 
health of the boys was decidedly improved by 
substituting for the usual dress, clothes capable 
of being readily washed.” 

“When cellars are damp, the air in the 
upper part of the house cannot be pure, and 
the disagreeable and hurtful odors of every¬ 
thing in the cellar, must pervade the superin¬ 
cumbent atmosphere. Provisions will not keep 
in damp cellars, and indeed the whole economy 
of house-wifery is materially interfered with 
in such cases. All cellars not constantly 


I 


OF DWELLINGS. 37 

and thoroughly ventilated, are in fact, more 
or less damp, and are therefore objectionable 
for the reasons above given, and especially 
when there are articles stored in them which 
can engender odors or stench.” 

I make the following extract from a work 
by Dr. W. W. Hall, editor of Hall’s Journal 
of Health. 

“Let the sun come into our dwellings, and 
let our chambers be on the sunny side of the 
house. A room that the sun is not permitted 
to look into at all, should be without a door ; 
it is unfit for human occupancy. Even the 
flowers will grow pale, and be frightened to 
death in it. The primary object of a window 
is not for the sons of men to look out, but for 
the sun to look in. 

“ Pleasant sunshine not only brightens a 
man’s buttons, but his heart; it makes his 
spirit as cheerful as the landscape—he cannot 
be happy without it. 


88 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


“Sir James Wylie, late physician to the 
Emperor of Russia, attentively studied the 
effects of light as a curative agent in the 
hospitals of St. Petersburg: and he discovered 
that the number of patients who were cured 
in rooms properly lighted was four times greater 
than of those confined in dark rooms. This 
led to a complete reform in lighting the hospi¬ 
tals of Russia, and with the most beneficial 
results. In all cities visited by the cholera, 
it was universally found that the greatest 
number of deaths took place in narrow streets 
and on the sides of those having a northern 
exposure where the salutary beams of the sun 
were excluded. 

These different results are due to the agency 
of light, that is, the direct rays of the sun 
without a full supply of which plants and 
animals maintain but a sickly and feeble 
existence. 

“The following fact,” says a good authority, 
“has been established by careful observation : 
That where sunlight penetrates all the rooms 


OF DWELLINGS. 


39 


of a dwelling, the inmates are less liable to 
sickness, than in a house where the apart¬ 
ments lose its health invigorating influences. 
Basement rooms are the nurseries of indis¬ 
position. It is a gross mistake to compel 
human beings to reside partially underground. 

There is a defective condition of the air in 
such rooms, connected with dampness, besides 
the decomposing paint on the walls, and the 
escape of noxious gases from pipes and drains, 
It is strange that builders persist in doing 
violence to humanity by still erecting houses 
with basements. 

Florence Nightingale observes: “A dark 
house is almost always unhealthy, always an 
ill aired house. Want of light stops growth, 
and promotes scrofula, rickets, etc., among the 
children. People lose their health in a dark 
house, and if they get ill, they can not get well 
again in it.” 

Advantages of Gas in Private Houses , by 
E. E. Perkins.—There are thousands of fami- 


40 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


lies who would readily avail themselves of the 
various comforts and conveniences of gas, pro¬ 
vided its relative cost and other matters were 
properly explained to them. 

The superiority of gas consists not merely in 
the relative cheapness of the light obtained 
from it, as compared with that from tallow } 
wax , oil, camphene, Ac.; there are other cir¬ 
cumstances connected with its use which are of 
a far greater importance—namely, its conveni¬ 
ence, cleanliness, brilliancy, manageability and 
safety. 

Requiring no preparation by the consumer, 
it is lighted in a moment, can be increased or 
diminished at pleasure, and retires with the 
rapidity of thought. It saves labor and time, 
as compared with oil and other lamps, and 
where candles are used. 

As a general rule, it is desirable, in drawing 
and dining rooms, to suspend the burners 
from the ceiling; by which arrangement the 
light is more equally diffused, and, by being 
above the eye, its position is more natural, 


OF DWELLINGS. 


41 


and, for all practical purposes, more useful and 
agreeable. 

It has been said that gas-light is injurious to 
the eyes. This is fallacious; no eye was ever 
injured by the use of gas more than from any 
other kind of light; besides, the means are so 
exceedingly easy, by which the exact quantity 
of light by gas required in any particular 
occupation may be had, that there is no need 
for an excess which would be even unpleasant. 
On the contrary, it has been found that a 
deficiency of light in performing the most 
ordinary matter in life, as reading, writing, 
sewing, &c., has produced more injury than 
will be willingly acknowledged. Let it be 
remembered, too, that the situation of a light 
is of as much importance as its intensity; it 
should, moreover, always be above the eye; 
the light from candles and lamps for tables is 
commonly too near the line of vision to be 
either comfortable or harmless. 

When gas is first introduced, it rarely hap¬ 
pens that persons are satisfied with the same 
6 


42 


VENTILATION, ETC. 


quantity of light as they had previously pos¬ 
sessed ; so long, however, as this extra supply 
is kept within moderate limits, it will cause no 
material difference in the result at the end of 
the year. While we impress upon our readers 
the importance of distributing light as much 
as possible through the various parts of a 
house, we beg them to observe the same rule 
which prevails in every well regulated family 
with regard to lamps and candles, viz : that it 
be used only in such quantities, and at such 
times, as is really necessary; in which cases 
it will be found less expensive than either 
lamps or candles. 

Experience has shown that a small light in 
a house, provider! it be so situated that its 
effects may be visible from the outside, is one 
of the most efficient means of protection against 
nocturnal depredations. If conveniently placed, 
such a light will be no less useful to the in¬ 
mates of the house; in case of sudden alarm, 
or illness at night, is not a light the first thing 
required, and can it be too promptly obtained? 


OF DWELLINGS. 


43 


Once more, let me say, take care of your 
health, now that you are warned of the thief 
who would stealthily filch it from you. If you 
be not on your guard, you become his accom¬ 
plice—not on guard occasionally, but habitu¬ 
ally , else you plot against yourself to destroy 
a treasure that millions cannot purchase. 
Without health life is a drag—with it you 
have the blessing which is above price. 


Ross WlNANS. 








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